A Tale of Two Countries – Latin American Style

It appears that Honduras has managed to stand down the pressure from the Obama administration, Hugo Chavez, the United Nations and a host of leftists demanding the return of ousted leader Manuel Zelaya, who was kicked-out of office for violating the Honduran constitution in his attempt to repeal term limits for himself (if only he had Mike Bloomberg’s dough).

The NY Times is reporting that Honduran conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo “appears headed for victory” in Sunday’s vote. Still Honduras faces a cold shoulder from the world.

Washington shifted position this month and broke with Latin America when it said that it was likely to recognize the election results despite the failure to restore Mr. Zelaya before the vote. Only Costa Rica and Panama have followed suit.

Brazil and much of South America have refused to accept the election.

According to the Times, “the Organization of American States, the Carter Center and the European Union did not send observers. The United Nations withheld election support.” Apparently, election oversight is only worthwhile for validating leftist victories.

Further south, Uruguay also held a presidential election on Sunday. This one was won by José Mujica, who the Times fawningly reports is “a brash former guerrilla fighter.” Like Honduras, Uruguay’s constitution prohibits a president from running for reelection. As a result, the current president, Tabaré Vázquez, could not run. This was no problem though.

With an ironclad hold on the electorate, the Uruguay left was not afraid to run a new candidate, in this case Mr. Mujica, one of the founders of the Tupamero movement, which waged a violent terrorist civil war on Uruguay in the ’60’s and ’70’s.

So apparently for the left in Latin America, if there is a real contest, screw the constitution, à la Zelaya in Honduras. If there is no contest, hooray for the constitution, à la Uruguay .